I regularly saw wood, metal, and every so often concrete, so I was delighted to see Skilsaw’s introduction this month of a mammoth circular saw called the Super Sawsquatch ($700), a power tool that can slice a six-inch beam in a single pass. To accomplish this, Skilsaw equipped the saw with a 16 5/16-inch blade and a 15-amp motor powering a worm-gear drivetrain. The machine is like a small, handheld sawmill....
Stunning new footage of last month’s near-catastrophic Soyuz rocket mishap, released Thursday by Russian space agency Rocosmos, shows the harrowing moment when everything went wrong, just as the rocket escaped the clutches of gravity. The incident, triggered by a mechanical failure, forced two astronauts to abandon ship shortly after launching from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.View full post on TwitterNASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin safely aborted the mission—bound for the International Space Station—descending to Earth in a capsule and landing near the Kazakh city of Dzhezkazgan....
Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale Date: October 31, 2013Base Price: $29,945 Competitors: Ford Fusion Hybrid, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, Volkswagen Jetta HybridPowertrains: 2.0-liter, I-4, 141-hp, 122 lb-ft; electric motor, 166 hp, 226 lb-ft; combined system output, 196-hp, 226 lb-ft; single-speed transmission; FWD.EPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 50/45What’s New: The best city fuel economy in a midsize sedan, that’s what. The Accord bests the Ford Fusion Hybrid’s in-town rating by 3 mpg, and it’s only 1 mpg behind the Toyota Prius....
The Eximus IV has been named the world’s most efficient battery-powered rail car at an annual electric rail car competition in Sweden.Team Eximus—comprised of students from two Swedish universities—has broken the world record for the most efficient battery-operated car since it first entered the competition in 2016.Sweden’s annual Delsbo Electric Competition, which brings students together to build and test upgraded versions of energy-efficient, battery-powered rail cars, recently crowned a new champion....
Imagine yourself sitting in the waiting room at your dentist’s office. It’s already a pretty stressful time, and maybe you need a root canal or something and you’re in pain. And then, it only gets worse when a car crashes right into the office. The second story office, which, it should be noted, is on the second floor. That’s probably unexpected.Unfortunately, this exact scenario actually happened in Santa Ana on Sunday, when a car driving way too fast hit a median and launched through a second-story window:View full post on TwitterAccording to reports, the driver may have been taking some kind of narcotic, which might explain the high speeds and impossibly bad driving skills....
Researchers from MIT have developed a new type of bandage that incorporates electronics and drug reservoirs to monitor and care for a wound. The durable hydrogel bandage is supple and flexible, allowing for full range of movement even if it is applied to a knee or elbow. It also has a few innovative bells and whistles such as temperature-monitoring electronics that automatically release medicine to fight infections.“The brain is a bowl of Jell-O....
Nintendo thrilled and delighted fans with its latest Switch-focused Nintendo Direct, which aired on the company’s official Twitch and YouTube channels yesterday. The presentation was chock-full of exciting reveals for the system, such as Overwatch finally settling down on Switch, the arrival of Super Nintendo games via Nintendo Switch Online, and plenty of other anticipated game debuts. With all the new titles slated for release, it’s going to be an exciting fall for Switch owners, and a thrilling 2020 as well....
Media Platforms Design Team(Credit: SpaceX)Less than a week after NASA announced that SpaceX will become one of two private companies to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, the company broke ground on a brand new spaceport of its own on Monday.The spaceport, known at least for now as the SpaceX Commercial Launch Facility, will be located in Brownsville, Texas near Boca Chica Beach, about three miles from the Mexican border....
The Amiga 1000, a computer released by Commodore in the mid-1980s, became legendary for its power compared to other machines available at the time. The Amiga developed a cult following of users, some of whom are still working on preserving the machines and their software to this day. Amigas are also famed for their longevity–some still work perfectly well today, such as a machine that controls the heating and cooling of 19 schools in Grand Rapids, Michigan....
You’re more likely to see drones flying around rooftops than reindeer this Christmas. Camera-carrying multicopters were popular last Christmas, and this year sales are spiking even higher, with a million set to be sold during this holiday season. If that thought makes you cringe, then the man to blame is probably Frank Wang. He’s the founder of DJI, the mercurial Chinese company that turned small, non-military drones into must-have gadgets. DJI, properly the Dai-Jiang Innovation Technology Company, has come from practically nowhere—revenues of just $4....
Media Platforms Design TeamWhat Is It? Acura ZDX Prototype The Specs Automotive categories seem to splinter more every year. Acura’s new ZDX, due this fall, attempts to walk the line between car and SUV even more closely than either its RDX or MDX crossovers. Acura says this is a four-door sports coupe. But thanks to the hatchback, it functions like a wagon, offering more cargo flexibility than a sedan. On this prototype version of the production model, there’s an additional under floor storage along with 20-inch wheels and a panoramic glass roof....
Q: I’m a frequent traveler, and I’ve noticed that few airports these days have free Wi-Fi networks. Some even shut off their wall outlets, preventing me from charging my gear. Do you have any tips for snagging free Wi-Fi and finding places to plug in at the airport?A: Free airport Wi-Fi has become rarer than a decent airplane meal. While some major hubs (notably Las Vegas, Phoenix and Denver) offer airport-wide wireless connections for free, and some airlines keep their terminals connected (JetBlue’s JFK terminal has fast, free Wi-Fi), most airports farm out their wireless connections to third parties that charge exorbitant fees–often $8 or more per day....
International shipping has been changing the world for centuries, and even with the advent of aviation, there’s simply no better way to get a whole bunch of stuff from continent to continent than with a boat. But while boats are here to stay, sailors could be a thing of the past. Two Norwegian companies are working together towards a goal of crewless, autonomously operated ships by the end of the decade....
YouTube Peter Sripol built a subscale, working model of the Ekranoplan KM, or Caspian Sea Monster.The Ekranoplan was a ground effect vehicle designed to ride a cushion of air over a flat surface such as lakes or oceans.Ground effect vehicles, as Sripol realizes, actually work, but their design makes them difficult to fly. A new YouTube video shows a working copy of the “Caspian Sea Monster,” a unique high-speed seagoing vehicle developed by the Soviet Union in the 1980s....
A train still in testing has broken a Chinese speed record, hitting around 239 MPH. The train is part of a massive rail project in China building up to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.By the end of 2019, China hopes to have added nearly 2,000 miles of new rail track.According to Chinese sources, trains testing on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway were able to break the nation’s locomotive speed record at approximately 239 miles per hour (mph)....
Media Platforms Design TeamWhat’s with the weird weather this month? In case you missed it, McGrath, Alaska, on June 17, four degrees warmer than Miami, which sits 4200 miles closer to the equator. On that same day, 1750 miles to the southeast of McGrath in Calgary, Canada, the high temperature barely hit 70. But Calgary and the surrounding area were in the midst of massive downpours and flooding that swamped the city and forced the evacuation of 75,000 people....
Scientists have unearthed evidence of a massive impact crater in Laos that for nearly 800,000 years has sat hidden beneath 1,ooo feet of lava, the New York Times reports. The crater is approximately 11 miles long, 8 miles wide, and more than 300 feet deep.Impact craters this large provide vital clues about the major geologic events that have shaped life on Earth. Roughly 800,000 years ago, an asteroid smashed into Earth’s surface....
You might be aware the new stealth destroyer USS Zumwalt has two 155-millimeter howitzers, 80 vertical launch missile silos, and a pair of rapid-fire 30-millimeter cannon. But did you know it has its own server farm, some of the most advanced power generation equipment in existence, and runs on Linux?A new interactive web page by The Bookmark does an excellent job of breaking down the tech that powers the USS Zumwalt, the lead ship of the Zumwalt class of destroyers....
Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamDigital picture frames have become incredibly popular gifts, primarily because they’re affordable. Which is why the just-announced Kodak OLED Wireless Frame is such a bewildering product: It’s a 7.6-in. digital frame that will cost $1000 when it comes out this holiday season. Of course, Kodak has no illusions about such a pricey product appealing to a mass market. “[The frame] will appeal to discriminating early adopters,” says Pete Jameson, general manager of Kodak’s Digital Devices Group....
Residents of the Detroit metro area were shaken Tuesday night by a roughly one- or two-yard meteor that exploded in the skies. The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that a meteor exploded about five miles southwest of New Haven, Michigan, lighting up the skies and causing a 2.0 magnitude earthquake.View full post on TwitterNASA officials confirmed to the Detroit News that the meteor was registered on a meteor camera they operate at Oberlin College in Ohio....
